Introducing the New TaylorMade Rocketballz Irons Review

TaylorMade Rocketballz irons were launched by the company just a few days ago. I’ve been looking forward to playing these irons for a while now – ever since TaylorMade’s announcement of its new Rocketballz line a few months back.

It’s an unusually cold, rainy winter day here in Florida, so I’m not playing today. The weather may be unpleasant, but it gives me the perfect opportunity to write this review of the new TaylorMade Rocketballz irons.

First off, TaylorMade doesn’t offer its top-selling Burner 2.0 clubs on its website anymore. That makes me think the new TaylorMade Rocketballz line is intended to replace the popular Burner line of clubs. I’ll miss those Burners because they’re outstanding game improvement clubs. It would be hard to top them, but I guess that’s the intent behind these TaylorMade irons.

There are two versions of TaylorMade Rocketballz irons – the “standard” version and the more expensive, souped-up Rocketballz Max irons. Both versions are intended to hit the ball like a rocket and promote faster ball speeds, higher trajectories, increased distance and more accuracy. This TaylorMade Rocketballz irons review will focus on the standard version.

TaylorMade’s club designers came up with the idea of incorporating metal-wood construction into hollow heads for the 3-, 4- and 5-irons in the Rocketballz set. These particular club heads are made of 455 carpenter steel, and their overall design lowers the center of gravity, which promotes better ball-striking and maximum energy transfer at impact. Lowering the center of gravity of the long irons also typically promotes a higher ball flight, so these clubs feature lofts that are stronger than normal to deliver more distance.

According to the company, the fast-flexing faces of these irons are intended to behave like the face of a driver. Personally, I wouldn’t mind having a little spring-like effect and hitting my 4-iron like I hit my driver (my favorite club)! Wishful thinking, I know.

The head of each club in the set is individually engineered to provide the best combination of launch angle, trajectory, ball speed, and spin rate for that club. Head shapes and sizes are progressive as you move through the set – the hollow heads of the long irons are large to help you find the sweet spot and build your confidence, the mid-irons have deeply undercut, cavity-back heads, and the short irons and wedges are compact and precise. TaylorMade also paid attention to ensuring the set provides appropriate distance gaps between each club.

All TaylorMade Rocketballz irons have thin, fast-flexing faces, a redesigned “Inverted Cone” on the clubface to expand the sweet spot, and a new “Toe-Bar” feature that’s too complicated to get into here but increases accuracy. They also feature a new design that enhances sound and feel by dampening unwanted vibrations without slowing the flexing of the face.

So, how do the new TaylorMade Rocketballz irons perform? A demo set arrived at my course’s pro shop yesterday and I snagged them right away.

The finish on the heads is a dark gray, which contrasts nicely with the touches of neon-green on the back (you don’t see the green at address). Although the topline is a little thick for my liking, the overall look of these clubs at address is appealing.

My demo set of TaylorMade Rocketballz irons performed as advertised, meaning the ball flew long, high and pretty straight when I found the sweet spot. Actually, my shots were pretty good no matter where the face struck the ball. On an overall basis, I really liked what I saw. I’m not known for being a long hitter, but these clubs could change that. I also don’t hit a high ball, but once again, these clubs could change that.

They have a nice balance throughout the swing and they’re easy to hit from a variety of lies. In addition to being long and high, they’re strong in the accuracy department – especially the short irons. Mishits fly a little offline but more or less straight (no horrible slices or pulls), so I’ll give them an A- for forgiveness.

Feel at impact was about what I remembered from the TaylorMade Burner 2.0 irons - not a bad thing – and the sound was pleasantly crisp on well-struck balls. If I had to find something to complain about, I’d say it was a lack of workability. Normally I can hit a draw on command, but working the ball with TaylorMade Rocketballz irons was iffy at best.

The Bottom Line: Well, the ball really does fly off the face and the trajectory is long and high. Accuracy and forgiveness are excellent, and sound and feel are better than acceptable. If you like the TaylorMade Burner 2.0 irons, you might love the TaylorMade Rocketballz irons that are replacing them. They helped me hit the ball longer and higher, and that can be a real game-changer.

From TaylorMade Rocketballz irons to the other TaylorMade Rocketballz reviews.